Posted on 12/07/2014 9:58:28 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. —Never mind rocket launches -- the first rocket landing in Space Coast history is a couple of weeks away, if things work out.
SpaceX is expected to announce this week that the company is bringing in a revolutionary ocean-going landing pad for its next launch.
Looking down the side of the SpaceX rocket, there are landing legs sticking out, and a set of fins – that look a little like tennis racquets – pop out. They’ll guide the rocket as it flies backwards – down, not up – to a perfectly placed landing at the test site.
In a Cape Canaveral hangar is a powerful Falcon 9 rocket, set for launch on Dec. 16. In the Gulf, ready to head for the Cape, is the ocean-going landing pad for the rocket, a converted oil-drilling barge.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said this week its thrusters are repurposed from deep-sea oil rigs to hold its position within 3 meters even in a storm, providing a steady target for the incoming rocket. So when the rocket launches next month, it’ll release a cargo pod filled with supplies for the space station and then return.
Earlier this year, in another SpaceX experiment, the same kind of rocket can be spotted descending through the clouds off the Cape for a practice landing on the ocean surface. The rocket sank, as expected, but with the new landing platform in place, this one may become the first rocket to land after an orbital launch.
If you can recover a rocket, it means you’re not throwing away millions of dollars’ worth of hardware. Launches would cost a fraction, perhaps a tenth, of what they cost now.
So the revolution of landing a rocket could produce a big increase in the launch business – good for the Space Coast if it happens there. But SpaceX is building a new launch pad in Texas, and many of its future launches will happen there.
Related...
SpaceX will attempt to land Falcon 9 boot December 9th on a floating platform and then reuse it
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3231054/posts
Launch schedule
http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/
Falcon 9/CRS-5 mission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_CRS-5
List of past and future Falcon 9 launches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_launches
So what does it cost to take fuel along for landing?
‘As many people know Elon recently said that: “If we do an ocean landing (for testing purposes), the performance hit is actually quite small, maybe in the order of 15 percent. If we do a return to launch site landing, it’s probably double that, it’s more like a 30 percent hit (i.e., 30 percent of payload lost).”’
/mark
“What goes up must come down.”
Blood, Sweat And Tears
I watched the news video. A pelican (or some other sea bird) dives into the water right behind the reporter explaining the launch sequence. How cool is that?
Exciting times we live in!
SpaceX keeps making history practically with every launch!
You can take the fuel hit; just think of it as structure weight.
The real question is, for commercial missions, who wants to put their $150 million satellite on a used rocket?
Musk can talk himself blue in the face about how reliable it is but business plans and insurers will make the decisions.
Eventually they may get used to it...SpaceX will have the burden of proof on them to show the reliability.
I just don’t see the point when the shuttle showed for years that a glide is a pretty reliable return strategy.
“The real question is, for commercial missions, who wants to put their $150 million satellite on a used rocket?”
And what insurance company will insure the payload in case of its loss?
This is a new path that Elon is trailblazing we will see just how economical it will be to have it land, be refurbed, and launched again.
Here is the concept in its complete fullness with the first and second stages as well as the capsule recovered by landing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nOCIfyRdec
Each launch of the Space Shuttle was $800 million to a billion dollars per flight. With SpaceX its much cheaper.
> So what does it cost to take fuel along for landing?
Less than the cost of replacing the recovered hardware with all-new (minus the cost of the recovery and refurb on the recycling).
I suspect Elon’s bean counters have it all worked out, including amortized life-cycle costs of the recovery barge and support ships, and having to offer discounts on future launches with “pre-owned” rockets.
Nonetheless, this is a test. Do not be surprised if it fails. When none of your tests fail, you aren’t pushing hard enough.
What would it take for you to close on this booster today? It was used gently by a little old who only made three once-around orbits with it. We’ll even take your ULA launch slot in trade.
“What would it take for you to close on this booster today? It was used gently by a little old who only made three once-around orbits with it. We’ll even take your ULA launch slot in trade.”
ROFLMAO!!!
You know some salesman at SpaceX is going to say something like that in the future!
Meanwhile on the Orion front. Next test flight in, oh, 3/4 years and first personed flight in, oh, 7 years? Yup. We’re rocketing in to the past what with ocean splash downs. With any luck, Elon will make some extra bucks once the battery plant comes on line here. Well actually a little east of here. Then he can put some more money into Dragon.
I meant Falcon. Doh!
My opinion is that Elon will get burned by his battery investment when hydrogen fuel cell technology beats him.
NASA’s long range plan is to be out at the asteroids and Mars within 20 to 25 years.
I’m pretty sure SpaceX will beat them to it.
The shuttle was going much higher and carrying a much greater payload.
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